MINICARS: 2016 Hot Wheels Chevy LUV

We’ve been told 2016 is going to be a great year for JNC fans that are diecast collectors, and here’s the first evidence of that. Photos of a Hot Wheels 1977 Chevy LUV have been leaked. Of course, JNCers know this car as the Isuzu Faster, a mini pickup built to go head to head against the likes of the Toyota Hilux and Datsun 620.

With Hot Wheels being Hot Wheels, the truck wouldn’t remain stock for long. While a step-side 70s street machine Faster would have been totally period-correct JDM style, this interpretation has adopted a more American flavor, slammed and tubbed with enough velocity stacks to indicate that a V8 resides beneath the hood.

Though it has much Isuzu DNA, including a front end identical to the Florian passenger car, the LUV (light utility vehicle) was a world car. As such, the designers at Mattel paid tribute to the most American version of all, the Mighty Mike, a decal package available in ’77 (quad-headlight) and ’78 (dual-headlight). There are many more surprises in store for 2016, so stay tuned.

Maybe if it sells well enough Revell-Monogram’ll reissue their 1/24 scale ’74. They did one with a stepside but there was also a variant with almost-stock bed (apart from period bolt-on flares molded in on the bed as well as the cab) and a nicely done and very ’70s camper shell.

They just had to turn it into a V8-swapped drag truck with velocity stacks. =( I was so psyched to see the CRX until I realized that it had a weird longitudinal rear-engine swap. I’ve never even found a real case where anyone DID that! At least they left it as a DOHC 4, instead of putting a big Roots-blown V8 sticking up thru the roof!